Americans' Confidence in Institutions Edges Up

Story Highlights

Average confidence in 14 major institutions at 35%, up from 32%

Republicans account for most of the increase in confidence this year

Military and small business get most confidence; Congress least

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' confidence in the nation's major institutions has edged up in 2017, after registering historical lows over the past three years. Newspapers, public schools and organized labor, in particular, have improved in public esteem. The average percentage of Americans expressing "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in 14 institutions is at 35%, up from 31% in 2014 and 32% in 2015 and 2016.

With this year's uptick, Americans' confidence in key U.S. institutions is close to the historical average for the 14 institutions Gallup has asked about since 1993 (37%). Confidence in institutions was generally higher prior to 2007 than in the years since, and current levels are also well below the high point of the 43% confidence registered in 2001, 2003 and 2004.

Confidence Up Most in Newspapers, Public Schools and Organized Labor

This year's June 7-11 update shows that confidence is nominally higher in 10 of the 14 specific institutions included in the long-term average, although just three of the changes are statistically significant: the rise in confidence in newspapers (up seven percentage points), public schools (six points) and organized labor (five points).

In addition to the 14 institutions in Gallup's long-term trend, this year's measure included small business, added to the list in 2007, and confidence in internet news, asked about only two times previously.

Confidence in Institutions: 2016 and 2017

June 2016

June 2017

Change: 2016 to 2017

%

%

pct. pts.

Newspapers

20

27

7

Public schools

30

36

6

Banks

27

32

5

Organized labor

23

28

5

U.S. Supreme Court

36

40

4

Criminal justice system

23

27

4

Congress

9

12

3

Television news

21

24

3

Big business

18

21

3

Small business

68

70

2

Police

56

57

1

Church or organized religion

41

41

0

Military

73

72

-1

Medical system

39

37

-2

Presidency

36

32

-4

News on the internet

n/a

16

n/a

Gallup

Overall, U.S. adults say they have the most confidence in the military, as has typically been the case since the mid-1980s. Americans have almost as much confidence in small business as they do in the military. Confidence levels drop off substantially after these two, with only one other institution -- the police -- getting a combined "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence rating over 50%.

At the other end of the spectrum, two institutions have confidence ratings below 20% -- Congress, last on the list with a confidence rating of 12%, and news on the internet, at 16%. Forthcoming Gallup.com stories will discuss the trends in confidence on several of these institutions in more detail.

Republicans' and Democrats' Confidence in Institutions Shift This Year

The overall uptick in confidence this year is primarily the result of increased confidence among Republicans, paralleling the increased GOP optimism noted in economic confidence and satisfaction with the way things are going in the nation.

Republican and Republican-leaning independents' average confidence in the 14 major institutions edged up to 37% from 30% last year. Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, confronted with a Republican president and Republican-controlled Congress, have roughly the same confidence in the 14 institutions as last year -- 33% compared with 34%.

Republicans and Democrats essentially flipped their confidence ratings of the presidency this year. Republicans' confidence surged 46 points compared with 2016, while Democrats' confidence fell by 49 points. Last year, with a Democrat in the White House, Democrats were much more confident in the presidency than were Republicans. This year, Republicans' confidence in the presidency is 50 points higher than that of Democrats.

Confidence in Institutions by Party: 2016 and 2017

% Great deal or quite a lot of confidence

June 2016

June 2017

Change: 2016 to 2017

%

%

pct. pts.

MILITARY

Republicans/leaners

83

82

-1

Democrats/leaners

65

64

-1

SMALL BUSINESS

Republicans/leaners

71

73

2

Democrats/leaners

68

67

-1

POLICE

Republicans/leaners

68

73

5

Democrats/leaners

48

45

-3

CHURCH OR ORGANIZED RELIGION

Republicans/leaners

51

52

1

Democrats/leaners

31

34

3

U.S. SUPREME COURT

Republicans/leaners

29

40

11

Democrats/leaners

43

43

0

MEDICAL SYSTEM

Republicans/leaners

36

33

-3

Democrats/leaners

41

40

-1

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Republicans/leaners

21

30

9

Democrats/leaners

36

41

5

PRESIDENCY

Republicans/leaners

14

60

46

Democrats/leaners

59

10

-49

BANKS

Republicans/leaners

28

36

8

Democrats/leaners

25

30

5

ORGANIZED LABOR

Republicans/leaners

15

17

2

Democrats/leaners

30

37

7

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Republicans/leaners

25

29

4

Democrats/leaners

22

27

5

NEWSPAPERS

Republicans/leaners

15

12

-3

Democrats/leaners

25

41

16

TELEVISION NEWS

Republicans/leaners

14

14

0

Democrats/leaners

27

31

4

BIG BUSINESS

Republicans/leaners

22

28

6

Democrats/leaners

15

14

-1

INTERNET NEWS

Republicans/leaners

n/a

14

n/a

Democrats/leaners

n/a

16

n/a

CONGRESS

Republicans/leaners

6

14

8

Democrats/leaners

11

11

0

Gallup, June 7-11, 2017

A similar pattern is seen for the U.S. Supreme Court. Republicans' confidence in the Supreme Court jumped 11 points this year, after Donald Trump's appointment of Neil Gorsuch to replace the late Antonin Scalia, while Democrats' confidence stayed exactly the same.

Perhaps in reaction to Trump's vociferous criticism of the media, Democrats this year express significantly higher levels of confidence in newspapers than they did last year, while Republicans' confidence stayed roughly the same -- and much lower than Democrats.

Bottom Line

Several important findings emerge from Gallup's annual update of Americans' confidence in the nation's major institutions this year.

First, the uptick in Republicans' average confidence resulting from the election of President Trump was not offset by a decrease in confidence among Democrats, leaving the population, as a whole, more confident than in previous years.

Second, despite this increased confidence, Americans are still skeptical of most of the major institutions that make up U.S. society. Major institutions have an average 35% "great deal/quite a lot" confidence rating overall, and only three institutions garner a confidence rating above 50%. Major institutions such as big business, the criminal justice system and banks get high confidence ratings from less than one-third of the public.

Finally, the dismal level of public confidence in Congress -- with 12% of Americans saying they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the nation's legislative body and 44% saying they have very little confidence -- highlights what Americans themselves say is the nation's most important problem: a dysfunctional government that has lost much of its legitimacy in the eyes of the people it serves.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted June 7-11, 2017, with a random sample of 1,009 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 70% cellphone respondents and 30% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.